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Hugo de Groot and Giambattista Vico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2009

A.C. 't Hart
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The importance of a scholar like Hugo de Groot can be viewed in different ways. A systematic analysis of his works would clarify the coherence and depth, an historical approach would do the same for his sources and the extent of his originality. Other possibilities would be to trace the further development of his (legal and political) thinking or to ask what inspiration his works can still give towards the solution of problems today. Another approach has been adopted in the present contribution, viz., a discussion of Grotius' influence on a particular thinker of a later period, the Neapolitan lawyer and philosopher Giambattista Vico(1668–1744). Two aspects of his influence will be considered. In the first place, the question why Vico himself attributed such particular importance to Grotius. Vico even named Grotius as one of his “authors”. Vico employs the term “author” as a title of honour for his mentors in literature whom he considers especially important and in whose work he recognizes aspects of his pwn thinking which are of exceptional importance. However, Vico's attitude to Grotius does not consist solely of grateful admiration. In his principal work, the New Science, of which the first edition was published in 1725, and the last, totally rewritten, posthumous edition appeared in 1744, Vico's recognition of Grotius' merits is certainly still apparent, although his criticism has, by this stage, taken a dominant role. Vico's opposition to the predominant Cartesian rationalism, which he had already expressed in his De nostri temporis studiorum ratione of 1709 and in his De antiquissima italorum sapientia ex linguae latinae originibus eruenda, liber primus sive metaphysicus of 1710, also extends to the rationalist school of natural law of which he considers Grotius, Selden and Pufendorf to be the main representatives.

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Netherlands International Law Review , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , May 1983 , pp. 5 - 41
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Copyright © T.M.C. Asser Press 1983

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References

1. The Princípi di scienza nuova d'intorno alla comune natura delle nazioni, abbreviated as Scienza Nuova seconda, a work that appeared in different versions after a complete revision of Vico's Princípi di una scienza nuova intomo alia natura delle nazioni per la quale si ritruovano i principi di altro sistema del diritto naturale delle genti, abbreviated as Scienza Nuova pritna and published in 1725. Where references in this text are made to Vico's New Science, they refer to Scienza Nuova seconda, 1744 edition. The study of Vico is based on the edition by (B. Croce, G. Gentile and) F. Nicolini of his collected works: Vico, G.B., Opere, Bari 1911–1941Google Scholar, and quotations are taken from this edition. For the sake of brevity Vico's works are quoted in the notes with an abbreviated title. The quotations from Vico's autobiography and from his Scienza Nuova seconda that appear in the text of this study are from the English translation by Fisch and Bergin. See The Autobiography of Giambattista Vico, translated from the Italian by Fisch, Max Harold and Bergin, Thomas Goddard, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1975Google Scholar; The New Science of Giambattista Vico, translated from the third edition (1744) by Bergin, Thomas Goddard and Fisch, Max Harold, Anchor Books, New York 1961Google Scholar. In the customary manner the quotations from Scienza Nuova prima and seconda do not refer to the page numbering of the edition used, but to the numbering of the paragraphs used by Nicolini in his edition and adopted by Bergin and Fisch's (abbreviated) translation of Scienza Nuova seconda.

2. On this problem, embedded in an interpretation of Vico's entire system of thought, see 't Hart, A.C., Recht en stoat in het denken van Giambattista Vico, Alphen aan den Rijn 1979, on which this essay is basedGoogle Scholar.

3. According to Nicolini, in Vico, G.B., Opere V, p. 117Google Scholar, Vico had already read Grotius' De jure belli ac pacis in 1708 and was studying this work again in 1715. According to Fassò, he re-read it in 1713. See Fassò, G., / I “quattro auttori” del Vico. Saggio sulla genesi della Scienza Nuova, Milano 1949, p. 92Google Scholar; cf. Idem, Vico e Grozio, Napoli 1971, p. 59. See also Corsano, A., Giambattista Vico, Bari 1965, pp. 146–147Google Scholar, and Droetto, A., Studi groziani, Torino 1968, p. 155Google Scholar.

4. De ratione, p. 110.

5. Autobiografia, p. 26.

6. According to Faucci, Vico was responsible for the 1719 edition of De jure belli ac pacis, which appear in Meulen, J. ter and Diermanse, P.J.J., Bibliographie des écrits imprimés de Hugo Grotius, The Hague 1950, pp. 248–249, under no. 599Google Scholar. He stated that the dedication of this work to Prince Eugenius of Savoy was made by Vico himself. See Faucci, D., Vico editore di Grozio?, in “Giornale critico della letteratura italiana”, 1959, pp. 97–104Google Scholar. Faucci's opinion is supported by Nicolini: see Nicolini, F., Vico e Grozio, in “Biblion”, 1959, pp. 113–123Google Scholar. See also, Faucci, D., Ancora su Vico e Grozio, in “Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa”, 1962, pp. 103–104Google Scholar; idem, Vico e Grozio “girureconsulti del genere umano”, in “Filosofia”, 1968, pp. 501–550; idem, Vico and Grotius: Jurisconsults of mankind, in G. Tagliacozzo and White, H.V. (ed.), Giambattista Vico. An international symposium, Baltimore 1969, pp. 61–67Google Scholar.

7. Diritto universale includes the Sinopsi, published in 1720, De universi juris uno principio et fine uno, abbreviated as De uno (also 1720), De constantia jurisprudents, abbreviated as De constantia (1721) and the Notae (1722).

8. Autobiografia, p. 39.

9. See the surveys by Fassò, 1949, pp. 18–21, Idem, 1971, pp. 38–51, and De Mas, E., Bacone e Vico, Torino 1959, pp. 56–59Google Scholar.

10. Badaloni, N., Introduzione a G.B. Vico, Milano 1961, p. 355Google Scholar.

11. I.e., the first edition (1911) of Croce's edition. In the second edition of 1929 by Croce and Nicolini this error has been corrected.

12. Giarrizzo, G., La politico di Vico, in “Quaderni contemporanei”, 1969, p. 100Google Scholar.

13. See also Badaloni, N., Sul vichiano diritto naturale delle genti, in Vico, G.B., Opere giuridiche. Il diritto universale, Firenze 1974, p. XLGoogle Scholar.

14. De rebus gestis Antonii Caraphaei, pp. 97–106, 124–129. See also Nicolini, , in Vico, G.B.Opere VI, p. 428, and Giarrizzo, 1969, pp. 100–105Google Scholar.

15. See Fassò, G., Genesi storica e genesi logica della filosofia delta “Scienza Nuova”, in “Rivista internazionale di filosofia del diritto”, 1948, pp. 319–336Google Scholar; Idem, 1949; Idem, 1971; Idem, The problem of law and the historical origin of the New Science, in G. Tagliacozzo and D.Ph. Verene, Giabattista Vico's science of humanity, Baltimore and London, 1976, pp. 3–14. On the Vico studies of Fassò, see Pattaro, E., Gli studi vichiani di Guido Fassó, in “Bollettino del Centro di studi vichiani”, 1975, pp. 87–121Google Scholar.

16. Fassò, 1971, pp. 48–49.

17. Ibidem, pp. 10–11; cf., Fassò, G., La legge delta ragione, Bologna 1964, p. 151Google Scholar.

18. Fassò, 1971, p. 31.

19. Ibidem, pp. 60–61.

20. Also Croce considers the “verum-certum” equivalent to the application of the “verum factum” to history. See Croce, B., La filosofia di Giambattista Vico, (prima ed. econ.), Bari 1965, p. 36Google Scholar. Fassò's explanation (1949) of Vico's four “authors” was supported, broadly speaking, by Croce. See Croce, B., Illusioni degli autori sui “loro” autori, in “Quaderni della ‘Critica’“, 1949, pp. 84–90Google Scholar. This explanation by Fassò concurs on this point with that in his later work, Vico e Grozio. In this work (pp. 8–9), there is a fairly general reservation regarding Croce's interpretation, but this does not entail an essential difference in the explanation of the “verum-certum” and the “verum factum”.

21. Fassò, 1971, p. 67.

22. Ibidem, pp. 104–105.

23. Ibidem, pp. 88–90.

24. Grotius, Hugo, De jure belli ac pacis, Prolegomena 15Google Scholar, and I, I, X, 4. According to Fassò, (ibidem, pp. 90–91) the relationship between law and utility, also indicated in the Prolegomena (16), could also be used as an argument if it were not for the fact that De uno proves that Vico read Grotius' text incorrectly.

25. Grotius, I, I, XII, 1. Also Asser points out the actual agreement of these two approaches in Grotius' work. See T.M.C. Asser, Hugo Grotius, in Hugo Grotius 1625–1925, Essays on his life and works selected for the occasion of the tercentenary of his De jure belli ac pacis, by Lysen, A., Leyden, 1925, p. 13Google Scholar.

26. Fassò, 1971, p. 91.

27. Ibidem, pp. 94–95.

28. Ibidem, pp. 98.

29. Ibidem, p. 105.

30. Badaloni, 1974.

31. De uno, p. 32.

32. Ibidem.

33. De Groot, , Prolegomena 40Google Scholar.

34. Ibidem 53.

35. De uno, pp. 126–127. Nicolini notes that, on the contrary, Vulteius does write “De jure naturali, gentium et civile” with a comma, in his In Institutiones juris civilis a Iustiniano compositas commentarius, Marburg 1613, p. 11Google Scholar.

36. See 't Hart, 1979, pp. 70–73.

37. De constantia, p. 308.

38. Ibidem, p. 541.

39. Ibidem, p. 539: “Hanc originem, hunc progressum, quo fas priscarum gentium natum et prolatum est, esse oportebat primum principium tractationis incomparabilis quam Hugo Grotius De jure belli ac pacis adornavit, ut innumera loca, quibus eos libros ex historicis, oratoribus, philosophis, poetis cumulat, non in eruditionem tantum, sed et in scientiam dicerentur.” Cf. ibidem, p. 541, the paragraph Cur hodie in bellis regnat jus naturale philosophorum? For a concrete example of Vico's criticism of Grotius that the latter's conclusions have no compelling force, see ibidem, p. 345. Concerning the unscientific and one-sided nature of Grotius' doctrine of natural law in Vico's eyes, also see Agnelli, A., Motivi e sviluppi delta constanza del diritto in G.B. Vico, in “Rivista internazionale di filosofia del diritto”, 1956, pp. 634–635Google Scholar.

40. Autobiografia, pp. 40–41.

41. According to Fasso, 1949, pp. 53–54, De uno should be interpreted in the light of the “new science”. Donati emphasized that Diritto Universale stands on its own. He ascribed special significance to this work as a rounded system of legal philosophy. See Donati, B., Nuovi studi sulla filosofia civile di G.B. Vico, Firenze 1936, pp. 173–180, 282Google Scholar.

42. Autobiografia, p. 72.

43. Viz., with his “ideal eternal history”; see ibidem, p. 26.

44. De uno, pp. 26–33.

45. Ibidem, p. 31.

46. Ibidem, p. 35; Sinopsi, p. 5.

47. De uno, p. 26.

48. Ibidem, pp. 31–32.

49. Autobiografia, p. 7; cf. De ratione, p. 110.

50. De uno, p. 31.

51. De Groot, , Prolegomena 5Google Scholar.

52. De uno, p. 32.

53. Ibidem, pp. 30–31, cf. p. 35: “auctoritas est pars quaedam rationis”. See also Dig. I, I (De iustitia et hire), 6.

54. De Groot, , Prolegomena 11, and I, I, X, 1 and 2Google Scholar.

55. Fassò, G., Storia della filosofia del diritto, part. II, Bologna 1968, pp. 104–108Google Scholar.

56. De uno, p. 33.

57. Hidden behind the historian Tacitus, one could also think of Machiavclli, whose works were on the Index, but whose fascinating political realism was safe from the Inquisition by virtue of Tacitus’ name, as “tacitism”, and led to boundless literature. See Firpo, L., Il pensiero politico del rinascimento e della controriforma, in Questions di storia moderna, a cura di Rota, E., Milano, s.a., pp. 375–376Google Scholar.

58. Autobiografia, pp. 11–12, 26, 39.

59. Scienza Nuova seconda, 359.

60. Ibidem, 163.

61. De Mas' denial that Bacon and Grotius represent two consecutive stages of a single process, does not take into account the enormous significance which the application of Bacon's method on the law must have had for Vico. See De Mas, 1959, p. 21, 29. Cf., Idem, Vico's four authors, in G. Tagliacozzo and H.V. White (ed.), Giambattista Vico. An international symposium, Baltimore 1969, p. 3–14.

62. De antiquissima p. 147; cf. Fassò, 1949, p. 47.

63. De uno, p. 35.

64. Ibidem.

65. Sinopsi, p. 5; De uno, pp. 31, 35.

66. Deu no, p. 34.

67. Ibidem, p. 88.

68. Ibidem, p. 45–50.

69. See Cantelli, G., Vico e Bayle: premesse per un confronto, Napoli 1971, pp. 16–17Google Scholar.

70. De uno, p. 159.

71. Ibidem, pp. 126–127.

72. Cf., De Groot, 1,1, X, 1.

73. De uno, pp. 126–127, 158.

74. See 't Hart, 1979, pp. 84–90, and Idem, La metodologia giuridica vichiana, published in “Bollettino del Centro di studi vichiani”, 1982.

75. De ratione, p. 103. Cf. Kovani, P., “Ex legislatione phttosophia”: sopra un tema di Vico, in La filosofia del diritto come scienza filosofica. Milano 1963, pp. 197–256Google Scholar.

76. Scienza Nuova seconda. 393.

77. Pompa, L., Vico. A study of the “New Science”, London 1975Google Scholar.

78. De Groot, , Prolegomena 6, 15; I, I, X, 4; I, HI, VIII, 2; II, II, II, 5Google Scholar.

79. For this contrast between Aristotelian philosophy and the theory of the social contract, see d'Entréves, A. Passerin, The notion of the state. An introduction to political theory, Oxford, 1966Google Scholar.

80. See Bobbio, N., Il modello giusnaturalistico, in “Rivista internazionale di tilosofia del diritto”, 1973, pp. 603–622 (especially pp. 611–615)Google Scholar.

81. Deuno, p. 163.

82. Scienza Nuova seconda, 112.

83. Ibidem, 386.

84. De uno, pp. 87–88.

85. Ibidem, pp. 44–46.

86. Ibidem, p. 54.

87. Ibidem, pp. 47–49.

88. Ibidem, pp. 49–50.

89. Ibidem, p. 54.

90. Ibidem, pp. 50, 52.

91. Ibidem, pp. 51, 69.

92. Ibidem, p. 88.

93. Ibidem, pp. 75–76.

94. Ibidem, p. 76.

95. Ibidem, pp. 63, 69, 85–86. Cf. De constantia, p. 330.

96. Badaloni, 1961, p. 365.

97. De constantia, p. 329.

98. Ibidem, p. 323. In Scienza Nuova seconda Vico reverses this: the fear of God leads to an impulse, conato, from which shame arises. See Scienza Nuova seconda, 504.

99. De constantia, p. 329.

100. Scienza Nuova seconda, 388.

101. Deuno, p. 88.

102. Ibidem, p. 90.

103. Ibidem.

104. Ibidem, pp. 93–94.

105. Ibidem, pp. 95–105.

106. 't Hart, 1979, pp. 224–230.

107. According to Vico, the acquisition of property takes place by occupatio in accordance with natural law, which is interpreted here as a right which man acquires by realizing himself as man. On the other hand, Grotius saw the acquisition of property by occupatio only by virtue of jus civile, not by virtue of natural law. This opinion was shared by Pufendorf. Thus for these philosophers, ownership through occupation, no less than through divisio – the two forms in which they consider that all land that was originally common property, turned into individual property ultimately have a (rationalist) consensual foundation. Vico could not accept this, not only because the nature of primitive man was not rational, but also because it does not explain how and why primitive man decided to divide up the land. See Grotius, II, II, II, 5 and II, IV, I; von Pufendorf, S., De jure naturae et gentium libri octo, (Londini Scanorum, 1672), IV, 6 and 12Google Scholar; Vico, , Scienza Nuova prima, 114Google Scholar.

108. Scienza Nuova seconda, 387–389.

109. Ibidem, 942–946, 947–974. For Vico's opinion on the legitimacy of legal decisions, see 't Hart, 1982.

110. Scienza Nuova seconda, 942–946. Pasini, D., Diritto, societá e stato in Vico, Naples 970, pp. 236–237Google Scholar correctly points out the connection between auctoritas and consensus.

111. Scienza Nuova seconda, 944; cf. 504.

112. Ibidem, 944; cf. 503.

113. Ibidem, 553. Cf. De constantia, 473. For the distinction between the sacred character of auctoritas (St. Paul) and of the divine nature of power per se and of those in authority, (derived from Eastern philosophy), see Passerin D'Entréves, 1966.

114. See, e.g., Scienza Nuova seconda, 379.

115. Ibidem, 944.

116. Ibidem, 945.

117. De ratione, pp. 104, 110–111; De uno, pp. 131, 169; Scienza Nuova seconda, 29, 1007–1008, 1376, 1455.

118. Scienza Nuova seconda, 942, 946.

119. See 't Hart, 1979, pp. 73–90, and Idem, 1982.

120. Scienza Nuova seconda, 948.

121. See Pompa, 1975, pp. 51–61, and the elaborations by 't Hart, 1979, pp. 176–200.

122. Scienza Nuova seconda, 949.

123. Ibidem, 320. See Nicolini, F., Commento storico alia seconda Scienza Nuova, part I, Roma 1949, p. 110Google Scholar.

124. Scienza Nuova seconda, 137, 584.

125. Ibidem, 949–950.

126. De constantia, pp. 471–472.

127. Modern thinkers have also pointed out this ambiguity. See Horkheimer, M., Theoretische Entwürfe ülber Autorität und Familie, in Studien über Autorität und Familie, Paris 1936, pp. 24–25Google Scholar: “Autoritat als bejahte Abhängigkeit kann daher sowohl fortschrittliche, den Inteicssen der Beteiligten entsprechende, der Entfaltung menschlicher Kräfte günstige Verhältnisse bedeuten als einen Inbegriff künstlich aufrecht erhaltener, längst unwahr gewoidenei gesellschaftlicher Beziehungen und Vorstellungen, die den wirklichen Interessen der Allgemeinheit zuwiderlaufen”. For Horkheimer on Vico, see Horkheimer, M., Anfänge der bürgerlichen Geschichtsphilosophie, Stuttgart 1930, pp. 95–114Google Scholar.

128. Scienza Nuova seconda, 1101.

129. Ibidem, 292.

130. Ibidem, 668; cf. 272, 950. Fubini, M., Stile e umanità di Giambattista Vico, Bari 1946, pp. 67–68Google Scholar, points out the emotional character and Vico's heartfelt reaction which is apparent in this and other passages, in which “stylistic violence seems to vie with the violence of these patricians.”

131. Scienza Nuova seconda, 262.

132. Scienza Nuova prima, 174.

133. Scienza Nuova seconda, 950–951: cf. 326.

134. 't Hart, 1979, pp. 73–90, and Idem, 1982.

135. Giarrizzo, 1969, p. 64.

136. Scienza Nuova seconda, 927.

137. Cf. De Giovanni, B., La classe dirigente in G.B. Vico, in “Rivista internazionale di filosofia del diritto”, 1954, pp. 745–746Google Scholar.

138. Scienza Nuova seconda, 29, 78.